Nagoya, Japan, September 6, 2008--A polar bear coated in hard-to-rinse-off algae gazes at gawking visitors to the Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens.

The bear is one of three who turned green this July after swimming in a pond overgrown with algae. Higher than normal temperatures combined with less frequent water changes caused the algal bloom, a zoo official told the Associated Press.

The U.S. government listed the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in May.